The Last One, Part 1
"The Last One" is the two-part series finale of Friends, which aired on May 6, 2004. It serves as the seventeenth and eighteenth episodes of season ten; Part One and Part Two ran as one episode. 52.5 million viewers tuned in for the finale when it was originally broadcast. It was written by series creators David Crane and Marta Kauffman, and directed by executive producer Kevin S. Bright. Plot Erica is in labor three weeks early, and Chandler and Monica take her to the hospital. Chandler has a hard time getting along with Erica when left alone in the delivery room with her. Monica and Chandler watch their child, a boy, being born. Just as they're thanking Erica, the obstetrician warns them not to get too relaxed, as a second baby is making it's way out. Monica and Chandler have two kids - a boy, Jack (as in Monica's father) and a girl, Erica (named after her birth mother). Meanwhile, Ross and Rachel sleep together at his place. Rachel admits to him how this is "the perfect way to say goodbye" and leaves him to go to the airport. Ross, however, realizes that he still loves her and wants to be with her. After he tries to tell her at the coffee-house, where Gunther confesses to Rachel his love for her (and she rejects him as sweetly as possible), Phoebe and Ross chase Rachel before she takes off, but they end up at the wrong airport. As a house-warming gift, Joey buys Chandler and Monica a new chick and duck, Chick Jr. and Duck Jr. Monica finishes the packing. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Courteney Cox Arquette - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Paul Rudd - Mike Hannigan Anna Faris - Erica Edward James Gage - Father Carole Gutierrez - Nurse John Rubinstein - The Doctor James Michael Tyler - Gunther Crew Directed By: Kevin S. Bright Written By: Marta Kauffman & David Crane Production Writing and music The series' creators completed the first draft of the hour long finale in January 2004, four months prior to its airing on May 6. Before writing the episode, David Crane, Marta Kauffman, and Kevin S. Bright decided to watch finales from other sitcoms, paying attention to what worked and what did not. Kauffman found that they liked the ones which stayed true to the series, and they found the finale of The Mary Tyler Moore Show to be the gold standard. The writers had difficulty writing the finale, and spent several days thinking about the finale scene without being able to write a word. Crane said that they did not want to do "something high concept, or take the show out of the show". The music playing as the camera pans across the empty apartment at the end of the episode is "Embryonic Journey" by Jefferson Airplane. The song "Yellow Ledbetter" by the rock band Pearl Jam is featured in the episode making it the first Pearl Jam song to be licensed for a television show. A spokesperson of the group said it was "simply a matter of the show's producers asking permission". Filming , was renamed "The Friends Stage".]] The episode was filmed in Los Angeles, California on Stage 24 at Warner Bros. Studios, where Friends had been filmed since its second season. The first part was taped on January 1 and the second on January 23, 2004. The episode was the only episode of Season 10 to be shot in 2004. After the series finale, Stage 24 was renamed "The Friends Stage". A month before the taping of the final episode, Aniston said that with each episode it got "harder just to read the lines". She explained that the cast was "all just nerves and raw emotions ... No one knows how to feel. We may need to be sedated on the last night". The producers promised a tearful ending, and the cast admitted their crying was not faked when they filmed their scenes. LeBlanc revealed that it had been too much for him and the rest of the cast. He said that Kudrow started crying first, and when he looked at Aniston and Cox they were "upset". Schwimmer, who LeBlanc thought was the "consummate professional", was also upset so LeBlanc "just lost it". Maggie Wheeler, who was Chandler's "on and off" girlfriend Janice, told People that "the entire cast had to go back and have their makeup redone before starting," and that Perry "broke the tension" by saying: "Somebody is gonna get fired." Perry told the New York Daily News that he did not cry, "but I felt like I was about to for like seven hours". At the start of each Friends episode taping, the cast would ordinarily be introduced to the studio audience one at a time, but for this episode, the cast headed out for their pre-curtain bow together "That made me cry", said Diane Newman, who was the script supervisor of the show. Among the specially invited audience of the taping were Hank Azaria, who played Phoebe's scientist boyfriend, David, in several episodes over the years; David Arquette, who filmed his wife Cox and the others backstage with a video camera; and Wheeler. Missing was Brad Pitt, Aniston's then-husband. Pitt told the producers he wanted to be surprised when the finale aired on television. Reception Promotion, ratings and awards NBC heavily promoted the series finale, which was preceded by weeks of hype. Viewing parties were organized by local NBC affiliates around the U.S., including an event at Universal CityWalk featuring a special broadcast of the finale on an outdoor Astrovision screen. It was shown in New York City, where over 3,000 people watched it on big screens in parks. The finale was the subject of two episodes of Dateline NBC, one of which ran for two hours. Prior to the airing of the episode, a one hour retrospective of clips from previous episodes was shown. Following the finale, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was filmed on the set of the Friends' Central Perk cafe, which featured the series' cast as guests. The advertising rates for the finale averaged $2 million for 30 seconds of commercial time. This was the most ever for a sitcom, breaking the record held by the Seinfeld finale at $1.7 million. The finale was watched by 52.5 million American viewers, making it the most watched entertainment telecast in six years. Although it was not the series' most watched episode, the finale was the fourth most watched series finale in television history, only behind the finales of M*A*S*H, Cheers and Seinfeld, which were watched by 105, 80.4 and 76.2 million viewers respectively. The retrospective episode was watched by under 36 million viewers, and the finale was the second most-watched television show of the year, only behind the Super Bowl. Which means it was the most popular entertainment episode. The episode was nominated for two Emmy Awards at the 56th Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Multi-Camera Sound Mixing For A Series Or Special" and "Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing For A Series", but lost to Frasier in both categories. Critical reviews Reviews of the season finale were mixed to positive. Robert Bianco of USA Today described the finale as entertaining and satisfying, and praised it for deftly mixing emotion and humor while showcasing each of the stars. Sarah Rodman of the Boston Herald praised Aniston and Schwimmer for their acting, but felt that their characters' reunion "felt a bit too neat, even if it was what most of the show's legions of fans wanted." Newsday's Noel Holston called the episode "sweet and dumb and satisfying", while Roger Catlin of The Hartford Courant felt that newcomers to the series would be "surprised at how laughless the affair could be, and how nearly every strained gag depends on the sheer stupidity of its characters." An editorial in USA Today highlighted the view of many critics who found problem with the aging cast, commenting, "Friends was getting creaky even as it remained popular". Heather Havrilesky of Salon.com said that despite the "nauseating hype and the disappointing season and the lackluster finale, it's important to remember what a great show this was for such a very long time." Ken Parish Perkins of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram graded the finale with a B, calling it "more touching than comical, more satisfying in terms of closure than knee-slappingly funny." Response from the cast and crew The cast members reportedly got together in Los Angeles to watch the finale. It was well received by the main cast, who were confident that the fans would have the same reaction. David Schwimmer said: "It's exactly what I had hoped. We all end up with a sense of a new beginning and the audience has a sense that it's a new chapter in the lives of all these characters." At the taping of the episode, the cast and crew passed around yearbooks, custom-made by the production staff, and signed them for each other. The cast gave the producers inscribed Cartier SA watches, while the producers gave the cast Neil Lane jewelry. As the sets were broken down, the cast and crew each got a chunk of the street outside Central Perk in a glass box as a keepsake. There were three separate wrap parties - a dinner at the Aniston's and Pitt's residence on January 19, 2004, a sit down at cast hangout Il Sole in West Hollywood on January 22, and a big party for 1,000 guests on January 24 at Los Angeles' Park Plaza Hotel. At the Park Plaza Hotel party, The Rembrandts performed the theme song of Friends, "I'll Be There for You", and the cast gave a re-enactment of the pilot episode's first scene. Trivia General *Courteney Cox Arquette was 4½ months pregnant when this episode was shot; the actress wore loose clothing, jackets, and held props against her body throughout filming to cover up her growing belly. You can clearly note it in some scenes, such as the one where she is leaving to go to the bathroom in the hospital, and is stopped by Chandler. *In the scene where Monica and Chandler hold their twins for the first time, a nurse can be heard paging "Dr. Matthew Perry" and "Dr. Green" on the intercom. *This two-part episode ran 66 minutes on original airing. *This is the second time a surrogate has given up a baby and the adoptive parents name it after the birth mother. In this case, it's Erica. The other time was with Phoebe. *After the first take, David Schwimmer mentioned to the cast that they were shooting their final coffeehouse scene. They had a hard time getting through the rest of the shooting without crying. *All the cast of Friends cried after the end of filming, and Jennifer Aniston can even be seen trying to hide her tears from the camera in the final scene by turning her head away or hiding her face in David Schwimmer's arms. Goofs/Continuity *Phoebe mentions Ross ever having chased someone in the airport, to which he replied "Not since my cop show got canceled," when in fact he chased Emily (his second wife) at the airport to tell her, he loved her, in similar fashion to this scene. *In the scene where Monica and Chandler are holding their twins for the first time, the hospital ID bracelets on Chandler's wrist appear and disappear depending on the camera angle. *When Joey introduces Chick Jr. and Duck Jr. to the group, Joey said Chandler took the chick and the duck (senior) to a special farm (while they really died). However, in The One With The Thumb, they are talking about a farm for dead animals too, but there it's Ross who doesn't know their dog died and it's shown clearly that Joey knows about it. Cultural References * In an episode of Family Guy entitled "Petergeist", Stewie references the finale along with the spin-off series Joey when he's talking to the television possessed by Native American poltergeists saying, "Oh you didn't see it? Ross and Rachel got back together. It wasn't that great, and Joey got his own spin off but eeehhh... it's not going so well". See also * The Last One, Part 2 * Friends: The Series Finale (DVD) External links * Pop Culture Digest Review Episode Navigation Category:Friends Episodes Category:Season 10